Who gave to Horizon?

By Ben Smith

09/02/11 02:43 PM EDT

As with much of Jon Huntsman's early campaign, Horizon PAC, the state political action committee that paid for his "campaign-in-waiting" seemed to involve a certain nod-and-wink: Donors were, in theory, giving to a PAC that would support candidates in the general image of Jon Huntsman; in reality, they had to know they were backing Huntsman himself.

But the PAC, of course, isn't legally allowed to say that, and so Emily Schultheis called most of the nearly 30 people who gave more than $1,000 (many much, much more) to the PAC to ask why they'd given. She got through to two of them (it's a shy group), both of whom said the PAC had raised money by the book:

One $10,000 donor, venture capitalist Dinesh Patel of Salt Lake City, said he got involved because of Scott Anderson, the PAC’s chairman. He said it was billed not as specifically donating to Huntsman, but to “back good candidates” more generally.

“I know Scott very well,” Patel said. “I trust his judgment.”

Patel is close to the Huntsman family, and served as one of the former governor’s co-chairs for his transition team. Patel said he had expected Huntsman would wait until 2016 to run – as a fundraising email from the PAC suggested earlier this year – and figured his donation would only help Huntsman way down the road.

“My assumption was 2016 was when he would run,” he said. “I think for me it was a surprise because usually it takes a little bit of time for you to establish the team … and we had always assumed that just after being Ambassador to China, a lot of people don’t even know who the Ambassador to China even is, so you have to come back and establish your name and all.”

Another donor, Doug Rose of Carmel, Ind., said he read about Horizon PAC and decided to give $1,000.

“No one got in touch with me [about donating],” he said. “I had just been reading about it, and that’s how I got involved.”

Rose, the president of housing management company Irwin Rose & Co., has donated frequently in the past – mostly to Republican House members, like Rep. Mike Pence and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, but also to Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell and former Sen. Tom Daschle.

He said he knew the PAC wasn’t officially tied to Huntsman at the time, but admired the former Utah governor and hoped strong support for the PAC would push Huntsman to run.

“I think that the PAC was reflective of a point of view and identified a need for the type of candidate, with the kind of skill set, that Jon Huntsman possesses,” Rose said. “That’s how I looked at it.”